


STRIKE While the Iron(Man)'s Hot.

by Origami_Roses



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, How to acquire an Asset, blatant opportunism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:20:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29009688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Origami_Roses/pseuds/Origami_Roses
Summary: Commander Rumlow follows up with Secretary Pierce after his unexpected conversation with Tony Stark.
Comments: 89
Kudos: 55





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [If they're really out to get you](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23156674) by [KahunaBurger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KahunaBurger/pseuds/KahunaBurger). 



"Commander Rumlow, you indicated you had some sensitive information you wished to speak to me about in person? There was nothing in your recent mission debrief to indicate an issue, and I am assuming there is a reason for that." 

"Yes, Secretary Pierce. This is completely unrelated to the mission I was on, and I came across it entirely by accident. How would you like a chance to get Tony Stark working for HYDRA?" 

"Do you know what you're saying, Rumlow? Anthony Stark would be a prime asset, but trying to bribe or coerce him is a madman's goal. Brainwashing him would render him all but useless. Where he is now, we at least have some access to him and his tech with minimal risk. He has one of the highest threat level rankings for a damn good reason." 

"What if I told you there would be no bribery or coercion necessary, Sir? Honesty - to a degree - would actually be the best policy, here, and Nick Fury is not only utterly failing to see it, but completely mismanaging Stark as well." 

"...Go on." 

"Three days ago, I was awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call ... from Tony Stark. We had a nice little talk about the line between justifiable caution and paranoia, and he let slip that Fury has been refusing to take his report after New York seriously. He saw something on the other side of that portal that has him scared shitless, Sir. He wants to prepare for it, wants help preparing for it, and Fury is brushing him off. I suspect he's likely to cut himself off from SHIELD entirely and go solo again if it goes on too much longer." 

"Tony Stark called you?" 

"It was a misdial, Sir, but yes. He did. He had been trying to get Fury on the line to try and make him listen, Sir." 

"In the middle of the night. I knew the man has terrible sleeping habits, but...  
"Do _you_ think there's a threat, Rumlow?" 

"I'm certain he believes there is, Sir. If you were to happen to step in - let him know I mentioned our conversation in passing and you are concerned about a possible future threat - hear him out, take him seriously. You'll have him eating out of your hand.  
"Also, I used my clearance as Commander of Alpha STRIKE to access the information and footage we have of the invasion. Based on that, I suspect that Loki was closer to a Squadron Leader than Commander in Chief. That he was, in effect, leading their version of a Strike Team. At best. He could also have just been the chauffeur, so to speak. The creatures obviously were accustomed to waging war and did not require his direct guidance. I also suspect he was doing so unwillingly and made a point of giving us a fair chance to win. There are simply far too many extremely novice mistakes and loopholes in his entire strategy to believe otherwise. And you know as well as I that a single battle is hardly enough to deter an invasion.  
"In any case, I believe it would be better to bring Stark on board as soon as possible, Sir. If it's all in his head, you still have him as an asset. If it's a real threat... well, better to be prepared than not, wouldn't you say, Sir?" 

"Very true. Hmmm. I wonder if..." 

"Sir?" 

"Nothing, Rumlow. Just an idea. I'll have to look back into some old files on his father. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Commander." 

"Of course, Sir."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I got asked for more, and my muse obliged by interrupting what I was _supposed_ to be doing today...

Stark picked up on the third ring. "Who is this, how did you get my private number, and what do you want?"

"Dr. Stark, my name is Alexander Pierce. Commander Brock Rumlow mentioned a late-night conversation you had with him, an-"  


"Agent Commander? ...are you SHIELD? Does this mean One-Eyed Willy finally fobbed me off on someone els-"  


"Director Fury has nothing to do with my decision to call you, Dr. Stark. I am affiliated with SHIELD only as part of the Council that oversees their operations." 

"Oh. Well, then. What do you want?" 

"I would like to make an appointment to meet with you. Commander Rumlow implied that you have important information to impart regarding the alien invasion force, and I would like to ask for details.  
"Also, in an unrelated investigation into the invasion, we've ended up with more questions than answers - understandable, given how sparse our data is. I understand you briefly faced off against Loki in the Stark Tower penthouse, and would appreciate a few minutes of your time to ask a few questions about that encounter, as well as a copy of any security footage you might be willing to share. I have no idea if it will help us find answers, or just more questions, but any information would be appreciated."  


"You're actually making an appointment. Like an honest-to-god walk-openly-through-the-front-door-during-business-hours-as-an-expected-visitor type appointment. I didn't think SHIELD knew those even existed. I already like you better than Patches - not that that's a high bar to clear, but still. Counts for something, right? You won't try to offline my security systems or stab me in the neck, will you? Because I really don't appreciate that sort of thing."  


_what? obviously Rumlow's assessment of Fury's mishandling of Stark was entirely too accurate._  


"I can assure you, Dr. Stark, assault is not my preferred M.O., and unless you are posing a direct threat to me, I see no need to interfere with your security systems at all."  


"Ok. That's good, then. The Tower is still under repair, but the lower level offices are open. Say tomorrow, 11-ish? JARVIS will reserve us one of the small conference rooms, and that will give me a good excuse to cut the 10 am board meeting Pepper's making me go to short."  


"11 am tomorrow will work. Thank you, Dr. Stark. I look forward to talking with you."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pierce and Stark talk. Metaphor is so useful.

"Thank you for meeting with me Dr. Stark, on behalf of both SHIELD and the World Security Council."

"My pleasure, Mr. Pierce.  
"Wait... World Securi- those idiots who thought it was a good idea to nuke Manhattan?!"

"It was **NOT** a unanimous decision, I assure you. Unfortunately, some members of the Council are ... alarmist, really isn't the right word - an alien invasion is as appropriate a thing to be alarmed over as any I can think of - but perhaps ... overly-enamoured with the idea of a 'bigger stick'." 

"That bigger stick wouldn't have done jack squat on the ground - besides killing your best defenders along with the very very small percentage of that alien armada that were actually causing havoc. It wouldn't have done a thing about all the ones waiting to come through the portal." 

"But would it have destroyed the device making the portal? That was one of the arguments put forward to justify the action." 

Stark snorted, letting his polite mask drop enough that Pierce could see his disgust at the idea. "Probably not. The only thing that could get through the forcefield it was generating was that staff, and we never did get a good reading on just what it was. Basic energy signature, yeah, enough to track it, but not much else. Didn't really have time, what with everything else, so we have no idea how much the force field would have protected from heat and radiation. I'd not take bets on even a nuke taking down the portal device - it would never be worth the risk of being wrong - which just means you'd have a smoking, irradiated crater keeping any unvaporized defending forces from getting close enough to contain the aliens before they could head off which ever direction they liked. The idiots who fired that nuke would have left the planet essentially undefended." 

"Would you be willing to say that on record, Dr. Stark? It would make a good argument for getting certain Council members replaced. And - hopefully never needed - but a good reminder if any similar situation should come up." 

"... it will." 

"Dr. Stark?" 

"It will come up again. You have a group of people who evidently see nothing wrong with obliterating a major population center as 'collateral damage' in such a way that the entire Eastern Seaboard of the US would be impacted - several other major cities would have experienced significant fallout, and that's beside issues like the harbor petro-hub that would affect most of the Eastern states - hell, shipping lanes in general, that would have impacted the whole country and been felt around the whole world. New York Harbor and Port is one of the major dockyards in the area. You'd have fucked that whole operation up, not to mention the airports. You'd have radar blackout for about 200 miles from the blast, if not more, effectively disabling most aircraft and ships - which hamstrings any effective response by forces outside the immediate area, and near total devastation of the entirety of New York City - because that thing was bigger than either of the bombs dropped in Japan, and those had an effective blast radius of over a mile. So I just gotta ask, why the hell were that sort of people were given that kind of power? I mean, seriously? Idiots like that are a main reason why I quit making weapons - people shouldn't have the ability to wipe most of a state off the map at the touch of a button." 

_well... that certainly put things in perspective. It was hard to remember any of the then-compelling arguments made by the Council at the time in the face of Stark's points. He was right - if the portal had not been shut down by the blast, they'd have effectively cut their own throats and handed the planet over to the Chitauri._

"The fact that you are certainly more aware of the specifics of weapons than many of the Council members probably gives you a different perspective, but I cannot say why most these points were not made, Dr. Stark. I admit I had not given thought to how world-wide shipping would be affected, nor to the radar blackout. I can say with some assurance that panic makes people do stupid things, and many of the arguments boiled down to 'we must _do something_!'" 

"Without asking the boots on the ground if they already had a solution? - because we were about 5 seconds from closing that portal when Ol' Nicky told me of the incoming missile - which means it had already been fired at that point. We had a minute - ONE MINUTE - of warning to figure out what the hell to do, and you're all just damned lucky that we had that 5 seconds to NOT close the portal so there was someplace relatively safe to dump the thing. Otherwise... Well, I hope the world would have survived, and then taken you all out and shot you." 

"Fair enough. I suppose I can only apologize for not being a louder voice of reason, thank you for effectively redirecting the missile and promise to do my best to neutralize some of my colleagues in the near future." _yes, he could see the benefits of a little ... restructuring. The WSC was useful to HYDRA, but perhaps the current roster had become too complacent in their anonymity, too incautious._

Stark huffed and Pierce could almost see him deliberately setting the issue aside. "Well, I completely understand being ignored and talked over. Thanks for listening, Pierce. I think I needed to get that rant out to someone who actually cares.  
"So, today's meeting. Which is also about the portal, but more specifically about what's on the other side of it.

*************

They spent the next hour or so discussing the invasion, what had been beyond the portal _(and Holy Damnation, Nick, what the Hell are you thinking, ignoring this!?!!)_ , potential plans to deal with 'round 2' and all Stark's interactions with Loki before Pierce brought up the topic of nominating himself Stark's handler. 

*************

"An asset? You're as bad as the pirate, thinking of people as things, as tools to be used." 

"Come now, Dr. Stark," he chuckled, "you're a businessman. You know as well as I that the value of having right phone number at the right time should never be discounted. Your contacts are every bit as much assets as this building is, whether they be policymakers, consulting experts, vendors or business rivals. So when I say I'd like to keep you as an asset, that is what I mean. You'd be someone I can call for advice on certain types of problems. You'll also have my number, of course, and can call me for certain types of problems. Like getting the right international clearances to launch weapon-bearing satellites, for example. I'm sure you'll use it wisely." He offered the engineer a half-smile that wasn't quite a smirk. Their discussion had shown him many things about Stark, and Rumlow had been right. Honesty - within reason, with the right spin - was the best way to deal with him. 

"Pffft. I have Kojak's number, too, but so what? It's worthless since he doesn't answer. The jerk expects to just let himself into my house whenever he damn well feels like it, but can't even bother setting up his damned voicemail, much less answer when I call. I don't think much of how SHIELD treats their consultants, why would I want to be one of their 'assets'." 

Pierce sighed. "Director Fury 's problem is that he excels at dealing with a certain type of agent, and tends to assume anyone whose skills he wants can be dealt with the same way." 

Tony snorted. "I'd ask how he made it to 'Director' with that attitude, but I've met too many mid-level managers with the same sort of mindset. Idiots, the lot of them." 

"I hadn't seen that correlation, but I suppose it's accurate to a point. When it comes to agents, there are two basic personality types and the majority are the first type. Good soldiers, good men and women, very successful at what they do. Unfortunately, it makes many of them underestimate the importance of the second type." 

"The old High School jocks vs nerds dichotomy?" 

"Not exactly. In this field everyone understands the importance of the 'nerds' and their work. More like dogs vs birds." At Stark's questioning look he elaborated:  
"Since humans began domesticating animals, there are two basic types we've used to help us hunt: dogs and birds - raptors like hawks and falcons in particular.  
"Dogs are pack animals; they require social hierarchy and interaction. They _need_ to be part of a team for reasons beyond the merely practical. It is relatively easy to earn a dog's loyalty, and a well-trained hound will usually listen to orders, even above its own instincts. It will obey its master's commands, follow his lead without questioning. You can call a dog off the scent it's chasing, and teach it things it'd never naturally do. A good hound is always on a leash - even when it's only made of words.  
"Falcons are different. The phrase 'birds of a feather flock together' does not apply to most raptors. There are very few species that migrate as a flock and even fewer that nest in colonies. They do not understand blind loyalty and you cannot keep them on a leash. Every falconer worth his salt knows that as soon as you release a bird's jesses, you have no guarantee it will return to your hand. Even the best trained falcon might decide to fly off on its own. It is not that they cannot cooperate with one another - a mated pair will split the work raising their chicks, for instance. And it's not that they can't work around and with dogs, either. But they have their own independent lives and live them with little need for larger social structures.  
A good falconer works _with_ the bird's instincts, trains the bird by asking things that are in line with what the bird would do anyway, understanding that there are _limits_ to what you can ask. Unlike a dog hot on a scent, once a falcon has begun its stoop, you cannot simply call it off. You might be able to scare the prey off or distract the bird from its target in some way, but you cannot simply whistle and expect the bird to immediately come to you. You can train a falcon to release its kill to you, but you have to give the bird its due - and a pat on the head or a belly rub are not sufficient. A falcon returns to its handler because it benefits from returning - a guarantee of food when prey is scarce, shelter when the weather's foul, safety when tired or injured.  
"Director Fury deals very well with 'hound'-type agents - which is most of them. They need someone to direct them, point them toward their goal and then let them run after it; they need a team to support and to be supported by. Fury provides all that, and he expects obedience and loyalty in return. Every single one of the Avengers is a hound, except for you. You are a falcon, and he simply doesn't understand how to deal with you. Even if you are not willing to work with me, I will step in with Nick and tell him to leave you alone, because he will clip your wings trying to turn you into a dog, and failing at that he will break them. What he fails to understand is that even an injured bird will yearn for the sky rather than snuffle through the dirt." 

"So me not being a team player is because I'm a bird-type, rather than a dog-type?" 

"You are a businessman and a scientist, Dr. Stark, and the owner of an international, multi-billion dollar company. You've worked with dozens of teams on hundreds of projects. Being a team player means that you _can_ work well with others; you contribute to a common goal and consider, respect and build on the contributions and abilities of those you are working with. It does not mean that you let yourself be placed under their thumb and held down or held back by the team. Being a 'bird-type', as you put it, has far more to do with how much you inherently _need_ to be part of a team and how you react to others trying to control you than it does with your ability to work with them." 

"Oh. ... thanks." 

"I'll be frank, Dr. Stark. The profile Natasha Romanoff did on you is shallow and misguided at best. Yes, I've seen it. Someone hacked a copy and it was passed around several of the labs and teams. Most of those who saw it thought it was a parody, done up as a joke to poke fun of her ... legendary ... abilities. That's how ludicrous it is. I firmly believe that you will be an _asset_ to any team you work with, and would like to start introducing you to some of the fans you have in SHIELD's research labs.  
"So I'm asking you, Dr. Stark, if you are willing to accept my jesses, just to try them out for a little while. Will you let me provide a safe shelter in a storm? Will you let me support you and help you get your proposed defense satellite project off the ground? Literally."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Tony's rant in the first part of this sort of came out of nowhere. I'd been planning a more polite talk, but then the WSC was mentioned, and he had plenty to say.
> 
> Also, note that Pierce is not being totally and completely honest with Tony. He's avoiding deliberately lying, but he's letting Tony fill in the blanks a lot (such as who was arguing for what in however much/ little discussion the WSC actually did before hitting 'send', for instance...) Pierce is _not_ a good guy. He's just... better than some of them...


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pierce reminds Fury who's the boss.

"Thank you for coming in, Nicholas. I know this was short notice, but this is rather important. I am officially relieving you of any authority over Tony Stark, and forbidding you from sending anyone to confront him." 

"Alex, you know I don't like interference with my assets." 

"Ah, but that's the point, Nick. Stark is _not_ your asset. You have no idea how to properly handle him, and quite frankly were well on your way to ending up on his shit list. Whether that would have ended in him just refusing to talk with you, or deciding to declare all of SHIELD as enemies to be destroyed is open to question." 

"We had it handled. Natasha knows just wha-" 

"The Black Widow was part of the problem, Nick, and you are refusing to see it. Coulson _might_ have been able to handle Stark, though - given the notes you and he left on their previous interactions - it's not a certain thing. One thing you should have picked up on above all else it that Tony Stark does not deal well with death threats. The Ten Rings and Obadiah Stane are prime examples of just what happens to those who try to follow through on such threats." 

"We never- " 

"Coulson threatened to taser a man with an electromagnet in his chest. That _is_ a death threat, Nick. Stark did exactly what he did in Afghanistan and pretended to back down. He's very good at giving someone enough rope to hang themselves. If Coulson had made any attempt to actually follow through, he'd have been dead long before Loki showed up, and you probably would have, too.  
"Tony Stark is simply not the sort of asset you are used to dealing with, and it has become clear you will never successfully make him one. So, effective immediately, I am ordering you to get rid of even the perception that you have authority over him, and to correct the extremely stupid way you've let the Avengers treat him. What were you thinking, letting Steve Rogers go all high and mighty on him without even a reprimand when they'd never met before? If you don't know how badly Tony Stark would take that, you're far denser than I've ever suspected.

"It was all going accord-" 

"_according to plan? No it wasn't. I know your plan - I signed off on it. You botched it, Nick. Your plan was to set Stark off-balance and keep him off-balance so that you could nudge him this way and that, making him stumble in the direction you wanted. Unfortunately, you put his back against a wall, and something I know you learned in Rue de Montpensier, Paris in '87 is that - even down a leg and dizzy from blood loss - once your back's against a wall you are no longer off balance because you have something to brace against.  
"But you didn't even see it, Nick. And so you and the Widow just kept nudging him along, herding him into a corner. You also know a few things about being in corners - Athens '79, Cairo '86, La Rancha de M-" 

"Alex," Fury growled warningly.

Pierce chuckled. "You _know_ that when you're in a corner, your flanks are covered and you focus on what's in front of you. And the only way out of the corner is _though the people who put you there_. You _should_ know that Tony Stark in a corner is a very, _very, very_ dangerous man. So you're welcome, Nick, for saving your life. And the lives of your pet agents. And probably your whole department.  
"Stark has agreed to remain as a consultant for SHIELD, but he will operate under the authority of the Council - not you. I am introducing him to the R&D department and turning him over to a handler better able to work with his personality type. The Avengers will still reap the benefits of his tech and he may be asked to assist as Iron Man on an as-needed basis. In those cases, I will expect your team to act like professionals working with an outside expert, not petulant teenagers or schoolyard bullies."

"He's 'agreed to' - you've talked with him." 

"Yes, Nick. You were refusing to listen to him, so he stopped trying to talk to you and reached out to someone else instead. Fortunately, I caught wind of the matter and was able to step in and fix it. Your disregard very nearly cost us a valuable asset, and so you are no longer trusted with that asset, nor allowed to contact him directly. That means no calling, no cornering him when he's at a SHIELD installation -or anywhere else for that matter - and certainly no more breaking into his home or infiltrating his business. And no getting any of your subordinates to do any of that or anything similar. Do you understand?"


End file.
